Court Roundup

Man gets six years for gun threat

A 24-year-old man was sentenced to six years in prison Wednesday for threatening to kill his girlfriend with a sawed-off shotgun and later firing the weapon after two restaurant employees refused to give him a cigarette.

Clifford Elliot Anderson apologized for his actions and partly blamed the 2011 flood-related evacuation of his community of Little Saskatchewan First Nation.

"I was abusing drugs and alcohol on a daily basis," Anderson told Court of Queen's Bench Judge Christopher Mainella. "I felt my life was over. After the flood evacuation, everything got out of hand."

Court was told Anderson got the gun from an unidentified source when the community was evacuated and brought it with him to Winnipeg.

On Aug. 10, 2011, he got into a dispute with his on-and-off-again girlfriend at a city hotel after a bout of drinking.

Crown attorney Elizabeth Laite said the fight had to do with fidelity.

The woman called hotel security after Anderson pointed the loaded gun at her and told her if she cheated on him, he'd shoot her.

Anderson tucked the gun in a duffel bag and left the hotel. Hours later, he approached two employees outside the Applebee's restaurant in Transcona. Anderson asked them for a cigarette. When they refused, he offered to buy one, Laite said. They refused again, prompting an irate Anderson to ask them if their refusal was due to his being native. Anderson then fired a single shot into the air. No one was injured.

Police arrested Anderson at gunpoint and found the gun, ammunition and several cans of beer. He's been in custody since.

Under a plea agreement, Anderson admitted his guilt in exchange for his sentence.

Jailhouse beater learns fate Friday

THE last man to be sentenced for a vicious December 2009 gang-related jailhouse beating will find out Friday how long he'll stay behind bars.

Clarence Scott is one of eight men convicted of aggravated assault in an attack that left the victim permanently physically and mentally disabled.

The attack happened outside the gym at Milner Ridge Correctional Centre after a guard inadvertently hit a button that unlocked the room and allowed the accused to go charging after the victim. The open door allowed the men to swarm the victim as he walked by the outside of the gym. He was repeatedly kicked in the head before guards intervened.

Five of the accused were sentenced to 10-year terms, one got eight years and the other 12 years.

During a hearing Wednesday, Scott's lawyer Scott Newman told Justice Rick Saull reports indicate his client is developmentally delayed and only found a sense of "family" when he joined a gang.

Newman said his client played a small part in the beating and should only receive a six-year sentence.

Prosecutor Keith Eyrikson said Scott played a more active role than that and jumped in on the attack as quickly as he could and should get an equal sentence to the others. The attack was recorded by a surveillance camera.

Saull described the beating as "gratuitous, recreational violence."

Fraud artist faces 7-year sentence

HE didn't like school because he couldn't make money, so he got involved in the largest counterfeit credit card scam ever uncovered in Winnipeg and went on a high-end camera-buying spree that included stops in Quebec and Ontario.

Now 22-year-old Kevin Guo is looking at a seven-year prison term, less the 18 months he's spent in custody since being arrested Nov. 23, 2011, for buying cameras with bogus credit cards and identification.

Guo has pleaded guilty to 64 credit card fraud charges and participating in a criminal organization.

A police search of the condo he occupied on Bannatyne Avenue uncovered a fake credit card laboratory, the likes of which had never been seen in the province, Crown attorney Don Melnyk told provincial court Judge Mary Kate Harvie.

Melnyk said police found the credit card data of 2,604 people and the identifications of 1,618 people on Guo's computer, plus the templates to make passports and drivers' licences. Also found were blank cards and card-making machines.

Melnyk said with that amount of data came the potential for massive fraud, yet Guo and his partner kept their thefts simple by mostly buying cameras with the fake credit cards and selling them.

The value of the thefts in Winnipeg was $10,537, and $7,957 for similar thefts in Quebec and Montreal, where Guo is from.

The sentencing hearing continues today.

Guo's co-accused, Benjamin Harvey Langton, has already been sentenced to six years in prison.